I couldn't resist the challenge
It was a quiet day at the Trager household. For once Nicole and Stephen could relax. And relax they did. Snuggling on the couch with a hot cup of tea and listening to the favorite albums from their youth they were currently quite close to Nirvana
"It's nice to finally relax for a while isn't it" said Nicole looking lovingly at her husband
"No work, the kids are out and Josh wouldn't dare to step out of his room until he is finished with Jessi's assignments. I never thought we would actually manage to find such moment of peace before we shipped the kids off to college" responded Stephen jokingly
Naturally one of the most fundamental laws of the universe, namely Murphy's law decided to remind the loving couple that it still exists. And it did in the form of Jessi entering the house with a bright smile on her face and what seemed to be a lot of building materials on her shoulders. Stephen once again felt his male ego take a bit of a plunge as he saw the sixteen year old girl effortlessly carrying this amount of weight. But thankfully this didn't last long as his curiosity got the better of him
"What's going on Jessi? Is something in need of repair" he asked a bit hesitantly. Another issue that took down his ego was Jessi's uncanny ability to fix everything. He didn't want to admit in following sterotypes but it just didn't seem right for the girl to be better at fixing the house and cars then the man. And she even surpassed Kyle. He knew it was silly to think like this but years of brainwashing by society and his father had their effect
"No why? " Jessi answered confused
"Well Jessi …" Nicole smiled politely and nodded at all the things the girl was carrying, knowing that she was still confused sometimes in social situations .
"Oh. No. I am just doing a project. You know so everything is in top form when we need it" Jessi flashed another one of brilliant smiles and headed for the basement where the noises of a girl hard at work with many many tools were soon heard.
Stephen and Nicole both looked at each other for a few moments and then laughed.
"You know it's almost like I can't remember what it was like before Kyle and Jessi were part of our lives" said Nicole and rested her head once again on Stephen's shoulder
"Neither can I" responded Stephen as he kissed his wife lovingly. Even though some of the stuff his kids could do still freaked him out he just couldn't imagine life without them" What do you think she is doing?
"With the both of them you never really know. You remember the holo camera that Kyle built to project 3D images from Amanda's?"
"Oh yes. I've been trying really hard to forget that. I mean seeing a full sized ghost of Carol Bloom in the living room doing…." started Stepehen his words laced with horror as the past trauma was once again revived
"or….." interrupted Nicole quickly before the memories she had been trying so hard to repress came back "…. that time Jessi built a laser sentry gun to deal with the mosquitoes?"
"That reminds me. We really need to renew our fire insurance" said Stephen as he remembered how that experiment had ended.
Their banter was once again interrupted by Jessi who quickly passed through the room and in a few seconds came back and disappeared in the basement. This time with a really big chainsaw and a few medical kits
"This seems wrong on so many levels" said Nicole after a few moments of shared stunned silence
" I completely agree. And yet she can probably handle it better then lumberjacks with decades of experience" said Stephen trying to convince himself as well. The fact that she didn't seem to be using the chainsaw judging by the relative silence was reassuring
"I guess" said a reluctant Nicole" Speaking of which have you noticed that there is something different about the way Jessi and Kyle absorb knowledge?"
"Now that you mention in Jessi always seems to have an edge over Kyle" said Stephen as he remembered that day in the computer hall
"Not always. I have noticed that Jessi is better at exact sciences and mechanical applications but Kyle has an edge over her when it comes to grasping philosophical and psychological concepts. It really brings up some fascinating questions about the way the human mind's has a predisposition towards certain fields. Even though the difference between their gifts is miniscule and irrelevant for any practical purposes it's still fascinating to think…." but sadly Nicole thoughts were interrupted at this moment. Her whole jaw dropped in shock as she saw what Jessi was carrying this time. Stephen also noticed and they both quickly jumped from the couch and went to her
"Jessi what is this?" said a completely bewildered Nicole who didn't know how to react to the situation
Jessi looked once again confused and raise the object in question. An action which made Stephen really nervous as he took a few steps and stood in front of Nicole just on case
"This is a twelve-gauge double-barreled was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger" she said admiring the weapon
"We know it's a gun Jessi. The question is why do you have it?" said a nervous Stephen who was eyeing the gun carefully" How could you even buy it?
"Oh I have some spared money"
"I mean the legal aspect"
"Oh this" said Jessi laughing a little" That was easy. Even someone with Amanda's extremely limited intelligence can figure out how to get around these laws. They are almost a joke. Which reminds me we should get some bulletproof vests, there is an extremely high number of gun related injuries and deaths in the United States"
"Ahh….whh..?' Stephen tried to form some coherent sentence but he wasn't having much luck. Thankfully Nicole faired a bit better
"Jessi! Why do you have a gun?"
"Because of the zombies" she said as if this was the most natural thing in the world
"Zombies" repeated Nicole not quite what to say to this.
"Yes. Josh showed me the classic zombie movies in our marathon yesterday and it seems wise to prepare for when they come"
Nicole and Stephen both looked at each other to make sure that they were not dreaming. It was one thing to explain to a small child that the monsters on the TV aren't real but to try and explain it to a heavily armed girl with the IQ of a super genius seemed unreal.
"Jessi those movies aren't real" said Stephen slowly
"Well of course not" said Jesssi looking at Stephen as if he said something extremely stupid" otherwise the city would be full of zombies. But just because the movie is not real doesn't mean that zombies are not real"
Nicole and Stephen looked at each other again not sure how to respond to this
"But it does" said Stephen" Those are all made up stories. There is no such thing as zombies, vampires and so on. People cannot be brought back from dead. The same is with all other movies based on fantasy. People can't fly or move objects with….well you can but that's different you are … they are not….." at this point it was hard to say who was more confused Jessi or both Nicole and Stephen who at this point were realizing that it was very hard to find a logical argument against the existence of zombies when Jessi and Kyle were as incredible as any movie creature
"Jessi why don't you forget about zombies for now and go join Kyle at the Rack?" finally said Nicole who saw only one way out of this
"But I thought you didn't want us to spend time together" said a confused but hopeful Jessi
" I changed my mind. As long you are responsible and take it VERY slowly. Do you understand?" Jessi just nodded enthusiastically and bolted out of the door not even bothering to look twice at the shotgun
Stephen looked questioningly at Nicole once Jessi left
"I know. But that's the only thing I could think off to distract Jessi. You know how she gets when there is a slightest threat to Kyle or us. "
"I guess we didn't really stand much of a chance against the zombie issue. Let's hope Kyle and Jessi prove more responsible then the rest of our children. And speaking of them…."
"Josh is going to pay for this"
"Josh is going to pay for this"
They both said in a perfect unison.
________________________
Meanwhile in his room Josh suddenly got a very bad feeling. But he ignored it. He was too preoccupied at the moment. While Jessi had brought on a whole new set of problems and opportunities at home she also brought something that Josh never thought he would find outside of Andy- someone who could appreciate good movies. The Zombie marathon went awesome. Now what to chose for tonight? Terminator or Godzilla?
I hope you enjoyed. I am sorry if they were even more mistakes then usual but this was a quick challenge so I had to react fast :)